Photo Report: Inside Rolliefest 2025

Much more than Rolex at one of the world's biggest gatherings of watch collectors.

Lots of photos in this one, so click the headline above for the best viewing in your browser. We’ll get a closer look at this collection in a future newsletter.

Good afternoon from Newark Airport, where I’m flying back after a long weekend in New York. Today’s photo-heavy newsletter is free. If you want more, I talked about a few recent finds, where to find value, and more over on A Continuous Lean’s Material Review.

A few winters ago, I took this improv class at Second City in Chicago. One of the lessons I remember: There’s comedy in specificity. The more specific the joke, the funnier it is.

Rolliefest is a sensory overload. The biennial event is organized by Geoff Hess, head of Sotheby’s watch department. Perhaps 200 people attended the two-day event in New York this weekend, highlighted by a dinner at The Met and lunch atop One World Trade. You’ll see write-ups by Hodinkee, Bloomberg, New York Magazine, and others in the coming days. At one point, the NY Mag writer on assignment (wearing: quartz Karl Lagerfeld-branded watch) asked if I could estimate the total value of watches in the room. I had no idea. It could’ve been $5m or $50m.

Either way, the question implies the opposite of specificity. I suppose it’s the only way to fathom the hundreds of watches in the room, the easiest way to write a headline.

But with watches, their beauty is in the specificity. At Rolliefest, it can be hard to appreciate the specifics, the details: The Tuscan and waffle dials, the Wellendorf and Gay Frères bracelets. The best moments I had were picking up watches and getting a few extra moments to appreciate those details, to hear from their owners what these watches continue to reveal after years of wear and ownership.

Enjoy these photos from Rolliefest—I also sat to chat with a couple of collectors about their watches, so look forward to a few editions of The Countdown, where we’ll get into more of those details.

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Dinner at The Met, including a Piaget with skeletonized Lemania movement and a Berneron Mirage 34 "Tiger's Eye.

Another collection we’ll see more of in a future newsletter.

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Lunch—Rolliefest’s organizer Geoff Hess holding the mic.

Raymond's Universal Geneve Polerouter on a zig-zag bracelet and Mitch's early Rolex Datejust with no-lume honeycomb dial.

Mitch’s Daytona Paul Newman 6241.

90s Vacheron Constantin perpetual calendar and a Cartier-signed Patek Philippe Ellipse.

Mark’s gorgeous AP Royal Oak QP with Tuscan dial

Patek 130, and getting into the details of a couple pre-Daytonas

One of my favorite Langes, Chris’ early Saxonia “Big Date” in white gold.

Troy's Bulgari Bulgari and Danielle's two-tone Royal Oak.

John Ferrer’s MB&F LM1

Kevin's large Cartier Paris Tank Normale and Charlie's Air-King 5504 with waffle dial.

Huey's 3971 perpetual calendar chronograph.

Breguet Empire with Peseux 260.

Kevin's First Series Reverso and a Movado M90 with silver gilt dial.

Lots of stuff. Hard to pick a favorite, but see that manual-wind Tudor Submariner ref. 7923 (top right photo)? Might be my favorite.

Paul’s Patek Philippe 1526 perpetual calendar.

A rare Tudor Ranger with 12 Arabic numerals, and Jonathan early Rolex with black lacquer dial

Early Cartier Tank Asymmetrique on Skip’s wrist.

Wesley's grandfather's Datejust, and Justin's "Big Red" Daytona 6265.

Chris’ Girard-Perregaux triple calendar with Breguet numbies.

Rolex perfume, too.

Rexhep Rexhepi CCII 'Diamant.'

Andrew’s Abercrombie-signed Heuer chrono.

A lineup of Explorers: 6350 with honeycomb dial, 6610, and 1016.

Close up with one of my favorite Rolex dials.

Brothers: Robin's pair of Rolex Scientific ref. 3009s with consecutive serial numbers.

Roy’s blue Tudor Submariner ‘Snowflake.’

A couple of complicated watches: Gee's 3940G and Paul's Lange perpetual split.

Andrea’s Rolex ‘disco volante’ with cloissoine enamel dial.

Carlton’s Heuer Carrera 2447SNT.

John’s roll of Patek Philippes.

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