The ultimate collector guide to Seiko’s 6139 ‘Pogue’ detailing its history and all the 600X variants.
Collector Guide – The Seiko Pogue on its 50th Anniversary
Category: Collector Guides
Collector Guide – Understand Vintage & Pre-Owned Rolex By Getting Familiar with Four-, Five-, & Six-Digit References
This guide will help anyone interested in any era of pre-owned/vintage Rolex begin their investigation.
Collector Guide – Vacheron Constantin Reference 4073 Time-Only Sub-Seconds Calatrava-style Dress Watch (1940s -1960s) – Complete Information
The reference 4073 is effectively a second generation descendant of early Calatrava-style wrist watches from Vacheron Constantin. The first generation began to appear in the 1930s as the company began to work with Jaeger LeCoultre base movements in order to serially produce more modern wrist watches for a changing market. Those earlier references that predate the 4073 include the 2871 and a few models that are not clearly specified by reference numbers. The 4073 began production sometime in the early to mid 1940s.
Collector Guide – Vacheron Constantin Reference 4217 Time-Only Center-Seconds Calatrava-style Dress Watch (1940s -1970s) – Complete Information on an Undervalued Classic
The reference 4217 is effectively a second generation descendant of early Calatrava-style wrist watches from Vacheron Constantin. The first generation began to appear in the 1930s as the company began to work with Jaeger LeCoultre base movements in order to serially produce more modern wrist watches for a changing market. Those earlier references that predate the 4217 include the 2871 and a few models that are not clearly specified by reference numbers. The 4217 began production sometime in the early to mid 1940s.
Hands-On – 1978 Patek Philippe Nautilus Reference 3700-01A – One Owner, Unpolished
Like many watches from Patek Philippe (and countless other brands), the original models from the 20th century are just so much mellower and understated than their modern counterparts, but I didn’t expect to have such a strong feeling of understatement and class from a Nautilus – perhaps because the trends have elevated this model to a thing of bling. What this tells me is that even during the disco years, Patek was driven by the same understatement that gave us the Calatrava and countless other gorgeous studies in classic design over the 20th century.
Curating the Collection – A Rolex Oyster Date Reference 6494 Captures My Heart
The Rolex Oysterdate 6494 comes in a 34mm Oyster case which is 11mm thick with a modest lug-to-lug measurement of 43mm. The lugs are 19mm across. The 6494 came with a variety of dials, but most were variations on white paint, black lacquer, or honeycomb engraved models also in white or cream. All Rolex 6494s sport a roulette date wheel: black for odd numbers and red for the evens. Hands are dauphine with a blued second hand.
Insight – The Argument for Cheap Tool Watches and Expensive Dress Watches
Despite believing the subjective experience of watches is ultimately all we have, I am not one of those egalitarian folks who believes that because someone enjoys a watch it thus belongs in this world. Watch critics like that really aren’t critics at all. They practice what a colleague recently called reportage, as if by using the French word sucking up to advertisers for a living was somehow sophisticated.
Collector Guide How A Pocket Watch Crystal Maker is Keeping Vintage King Seiko Alive
Our resident vintage Seiko expert David Flett explains how White’s Crystals of San Francisco is serving the King Seiko restoration community.
Collector Guide Vacheron Constantin Triple Calendar Movements of the 20th Century – A Complete Catalog of Serially-Produced Complete Calendars With and Without Moonphase
This guide is a one-stop reference for Vacheron Constantin’s serially-produced triple-calendar wristwatch movements of the 20th century. As such, this guide should help the collector of vintage Vacheron Constantin dress watches which were, to use the era’s lingo, intended for gentlemen. Triple Calendar With and Without Moonphase A classic complication, the triple calendar – also… Read more »
Collector Guide Vacheron Constantin Time-Only Movements of the 20th Century – A Complete Catalog of Serially-Produced Large-Format Round Calibers
This guide is a one-stop reference for Vacheron Constantin’s serially-produced, large-format, round, time-only wristwatch movements of the 20th century. As such, this guide should help the collector of vintage Vacheron Constantin dress watches which were, to use the era’s lingo, intended for gentlemen. The Era of Serial Production With Jaeger-LeCoultre Well into the 1920s, Vacheron… Read more »