Category: STRUCTURAL – Top Story

Used to identify the top story displayed on the home page

Insight The Watch Collector / Enthusiast Dichotomy & Its Discontents – The Phenomenology of Watches as Spiritual Practice

Our Current Paradigm Is Divisive Within the watch community we hear quite a lot about the distinction between watch enthusiasts and collectors. We consider enthusiasts to be on a lower order than collectors. Enthusiasts may own dozens of watches, but they are dilettantes who lack the focus, dedication and connoisseurship that characterize the collector. Collectors… Read more »

Hands-On Seiko Shogun Titanium Dive Watch SPB191 SBCD131

The Skinny Extending Seiko’s Heritage (Not Regurgitating It) I’m done with Seiko’s reissued dive watches. They’re never just like the original, the large Prospex logo announces that fact, and I’ve just grown bored with the whole enterprise. Seiko was always a forward-looking brand, and I think advanced design and technology celebrates Seiko’s heritage more than… Read more »

Hands-On Zodiac Super Sea Wolf 53 Skin Automatic – The Allure of Core Collections In the Age of Proliferation

The Skinny Hard Core, No Riffs It’s 2022, and we are living through an horological renaissance. A proliferation of iterations has flooded the marketplace with monthly, even weekly, releases from nearly every brand, with the result being new watch announcements every day. Largely based on “novel colorways” that “remind us of nature” or “inspire us… 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 »

Hands-On Ianos Mihanikos Dive Watch

The Skinny Dive Watches as History Lessons Jacob Hatzidimitriou wants us to know about the history of Greek diving, and he uses his watch brand, Ianos, to teach us. Specifically, Hatzidimitriou takes sponge diving as his subject, a harvesting practice that dates back millennia in Greece. With Ianos’ first dive watch, the Abyssos, we learned… Read more »

Collector Guide Vacheron Constantin Dealer Deck From 1960s

Half curiosity, half collector’s resource, I bought these “dealer cards” on eBay in 2021. I thought they’d be both lovely and useful for others once digitized. These cards present the watches roughly life size, the cards uncannily similar in size and shape to an iPhone. Vacheron Constantin sent these to dealers so that they could… Read more »

Hands-On Haven Watch Co. Chilluminati 37.5mm Hand-Wound Chronograph

The Skinny 37.5mm x 13mm 50m water resistance Sellita SW510 M BH a hand-wound chronograph movement $1999 Midwestern Avant Gardism There aren’t many new independent watch brands that truly take advantage of their freedom to design creatively. Among those I include Brew Watches in New York, Ianos in Greece, Sō Labs in Chicago, and now… Read more »

Hands-On Oris ProPilot X Calibre 400

The Skinny 39mm Titanium case and bracelet 100m water resistance Oris in-house calbire 400 3900 CHF (~$4,170) A New Category for Oris With the ProPilot X Calibre 400, Oris has entered the crowded and competitive arena of the Swiss luxury sports watch. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, the Vacheron Constantin Overseas, and the Patek Philippe… Read more »

Collector Guide Why Are Vintage Vacheron Constantin Dress Watches Undervalued?

Vacheron Constantin Reference 4217

Why Are Vintage Vacheron Constantin Dress Watches Undervalued? Because Vacheron Constantin never had a smash hit dress watch. But why didn’t Vacheron Constantin have a hit, and why do so many collectors focus on hit watches? Fewer Hits Than The Grateful Dead Consider early wrist watch icons like the Cartier Tank or the Patek Philippe Calatrava,… Read more »