Feb. Update: Rare Or Obscure?

The Reverso that saved the Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso; plus, an interview with Georges Kern

Congrats on making it to March, and hopefully you survived all of those Leap Day look at my QP posts. Welcome to my monthly update.

One of my all-time favorite articles is this 1999 Wired essay, where the writer talks about his eBay addiction that began with hunting vintage watches. Twenty-five years later, it’s still relatable.

The whole essay is worth a read, but there’s one innocuous line I love:

“The first watch I bought was a Croton ‘Aquamedico,’ a rarish – or obscure, depending on how you look at it - Swiss manual-wind from the late '40s.” [emphasis mine]

I constantly think about this thin line between rarity and obscurity – what makes an item one or the other, and how something can move from one category to the other. It’s the difference between collecting and hoarding; crazy and not; Collectible and crap.

Over the past year or two, there’s been much discussion about the trend toward smaller and jewelry watches. Cuffs, bracelets, and diamond-covered bangles that would’ve once sat obscurely in a case on 47th Street are now touted as rare and possibly unique.

No doubt, some of this is the natural ebb and flow of trends in response to whatever else is going on in the world.

And perhaps it’s natural when we are, as the Wired article says, “mapping literally everything, from the human genome to Jaeger chronographs, and our search engines grind increasingly fine.” As we learn more about more things, more become “collectible.”

But I also wonder if some of this is part of a generational shift in collecting and what watches we view as desirable.

“Millennials don’t want to buy what their parents are selling,” the Financial Times recently wrote about this generational shift happening in the art world. Older collectors can’t just “dump collections on the market” when it’s not clear how the market will receive them. This may have been one lesson the Passion for Time and OAK Collection sales taught us in the watch world last year.

Sometimes, what’s rare for one generation can simply become obscure for the next. No doubt, certain watches will always be rare and desirable; but others may simply be forgotten.

Not that this is bad – Croton Aquamedicos are cool and only cost a couple hundred bucks.

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Articles Of The Month

1/ To read

The Reverso That Revived The Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso

Maybe my favorite story of the year so far, and about one of my favorite watches: The Corvo Reverso. It’s one of the most historically important JLC watches ever, and only 200 were made. Not enough people know its story: For nearly 25 years, Jaeger-LeCoultre didn’t even make the Reverso – this watch brought it back.

The Roman numeral dial is beautiful, giving the Corvo an elegance missing in many other Reversos and rivaling that of a vintage Cartier.

But more than that, the story of the Corvo Reverso and its historical importance make it one of my favorite watches ever made by Jaeger-LeCoultre, even if the brand itself was once skeptical about the idea. If you have 5 minutes, please give it a read. (Honestly, I sent this newsletter mostly to promote this article.)

2/ To listen

Hodinkee Radio: Breitling CEO Georges Kern

A couple favorite UGs I’ve had over the years.

I’ve also spent time this month helping to get Hodinkee Radio up and running again. We’re four episodes deep and have had a few fun discussions, but the highlight was certainly talking to Breitling CEO Georges Kern about his acquisition of Universal Geneve and plans for the brand.

Last week, I also had a fun discussion with Ben and Malaika about how trends and tastes change.

3/ Way-Too-Early Top 5 of 2024 (So Far)

Over on IG, I posted my 5 favorite watches I’ve reviewed so far, so I thought I’d share here too (links below to reviews):

Too-early 2024 Top 5

5/ Piaget Polo 79, for the sheer audacity of a $73k two-hander.

4/ Vacheron Overseas 35mm, huge props to Vacheron for doing what its competitors haven’t, releasing a true midsize version of its sports watch.

3/ Longines Master Collection Small Seconds, a salmon dial with engraved Breguet numerals for $2,500 – easy winner.

2/ Tissot PRX 35mm gold, I liked it so much I bought one.

1/ Zenith El Primero Triple Calendar, Good looking, 38mm, complete calendar chrono, and a reference to a rare El Primero prototype. Well done, Zenith.

That’s all for now. I try to do one in-depth vintage article a month – For March, it’ll probably be the Cartier Tortue.

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Auction Link Dump

Wanna take a gamble?

I’m constantly wasting time on eBay and auction aggregators, so here are a few cool watches coming up for auction over the next few weeks:

• Bonham’s is having a big watch sale ending March 11. I could’ve chosen a few watches, but I love this Longines roulette watch with Breguet numerals (above).

• White gold Cartier Tank Cintrèe: It’s got a case from the ‘50s, a movement from the ‘70s, but we’ve already seen Cintrees like this sell for big money. I wonder if this one could catch similar interest from someone looking for a project.

• It’s not perfect, but I find this gold Omega Seamaster with Breguet numerals quite charming.

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That’s all for February – thanks as always for reading. Watches & Wonders is in mid-April, so I’ll try to send out an update before the Big Show.

-Tony

P.S. This guy makes awesome illustrated and animated articles – his explainer on the mechanical watch was extremely popular when I linked it – now, he’s done one on Airplanes.